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to the Archive indexRead this most interesting 586pp book about the mathematician, inventor of the concept of the ‘Turing machine’ which led directly to the electro-mechanical machines which ‘broke’ German Enigma machine codes in World War II and to the invention of the computer and, on p395, is the following:
‘more often he cycled through the scrubby suburbs to work, cutting a comic figure in a yellow oilskin and hat when it rained. Later he added a small motor to his bicycle but never acquired a car.’
This ‘motor’ was abandoned in 1954, just before Turing’s tragic death at forty-one. Has anyone a logbook with A M Turing in it to fill in the details? Reading this book is a fascinating task, even for a non-mathematician - though the writer of this review does have a strong interest in the applied science of World War II—particularly anyone interested in what makes a genius tick.
‘Alan Turing: The Enigma’. Andrew Hodges. Vintage Press. £8.99. ISBN 0-09-911641-3.
First published - June 1992